But I Smile Anyway…

I’m on a fab blog tour, this time for the brilliant Dean Koontz!

The Blurb

When hometown horrors come back to haunt, true friendship provides salvation in a novel about childhood fears and buried secrets by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.

As teenagers in the idyllic town of Maple Grove, social outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie become inseparable friends in response to the grim reality of their day-to-day lives.

Growing up, the ‘Four Amigos’ are there for each other no matter what, until three of them leave Maple Grove to pursue lofty

dreams, leaving Ernie behind. Even when Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer achieve stratospheric success in their chosen fields, they remain as loyal to one another as ever, and to dear Ernie, still in Maple Grove.

Years later, when Ernie falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. They have the strangest feeling that they remember people lapsing into comas before. And those people always woke up … didn’t they?

Returning after two decades, they find that not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother.

But Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer begin to remember things – a hulking, murderous figure and other weird and disturbing memories that they were somehow made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange and deadly awaits any friend who tries to save him.

For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in this perfect town where nothing is what it seems.

For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the Four Amigos back in its grasp.

My Review

Going Home in the Dark by Dean Koontz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, now what did I just read?
I’ve read a few Dean Koontz books over the last few years, and every time, he flummoxes me and trips me up. I think I’m not going on that crazy journey again, and he draws me in with another story filled with strangeness!
This time the story revolves around the four amigos: Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie. Having grown up in Maple Grove as a group of misfits or nerds, three of them leave town to find their fortunes, but the news of their fourth amigo, Ernie, being in a coma, brings them back to the place they have avoided for many years.
There’s something strange in the town. They knew it. They just didn’t exactly know what.And, did they really want to find out?
I’m not even going to try and describe the story… But it is filled with the weirdest, strangest happenings, and as the story gained momentum, I sped through it!

About the Author

The author of over 120 novels, Dean Koontz is published in 38 countries, and has sold an incredible 500 million copies to date. His masterful suspense thrillers which blend science fiction, horror, crime and comedy have earned him worldwide acclaim – and 14 hardback #1 NYT bestsellers – and have inspired countless younger novelists.

Dean won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was a senior in college, and has been writing ever since. Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. Many of his books have been made into films.

Dean lives in Southern California with Gerda and their golden retriever, Elsa. Dean and Gerda share a deep love of dogs.

The New York Times has called his writing “psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying.”

Amazon.co.uk/Koontz

‘Dean Koontz writes page-turners, middle-of-the-night-sneak-up-behind-you suspense thrillers. He touches our hearts and tingles our spines.’

The Washington Post

‘A modern Swift … a master satirist.’

Entertainment Weekly

‘Koontz has a knack for making the bizarre and uncanny seem as commonplace as a sunrise. Bottom line: the Dean of Suspense.”

People magazine

‘A superb plotter and wordsmith. He chronicles the hopes and fears of our time in broad strokes and fine detail, using popular fiction to explore the human condition [and] demonstrating that the real horror of life is found not in monsters, but within the human psyche.’

USA Today

‘Demanding much of itself, Koontz’s style bleaches out cliches while showing a genius for details. He leaves his competitors buried in the dust.’

Kirkus Reviews

‘Koontz has always had near-Dickensian powers of description, and an ability to yank us from one page to the next that few novelists can match.’

Los Angeles Time